i know a lot about what i want the mechanics to be like, but only now do i have ideas for what the setting is like... so here's an excerpt that i just finished writing to excise it from my brain lmao...
We are in the Fifth Age
We know there was a time before humanity. We call this the Zero Age.
We believe the First Age was the birth of myth and folklore.
We believe the Second Age was when humanity conquered the world.
We have no records of the First and Second Ages.
We know that in the Third Age, our ancestors worshiped Great Machines. The Great Machines brought them prosperity, comfort, and power. They also brought suffering, death, and pain. Those with the favor of the Great Machines used the labor, the homes, the very lives of those without to reap their rewards.
By the end of the Third Age, the land was scarred. The planet was dying. But just before our world could draw its final breaths, something strange happened. We don’t know why - whether it was the work of a Great Machine, the awakening of a Demon Prince, or the will of the planet itself. But the planet’s surface was covered by a sea of black fog. A noxious gas that blotted out the sky: the Miasma. So began the Fourth Age.
We don’t know how long it lasted, or how many survived. We huddled together in the gloom, struggling for survival together. It’s all we could do. In the depths of the miasma, in the caves and forests and seas where light cannot reach, foul creatures appeared: the Miasmabeasts. Under siege by those monsters, and with what little light and warmth reached the surface, we were forced to abandon those ancient cities and seek out food, shelter, and community in the darkness.
We found hope there in the shade. Our collective prayers were transformed into something new, something that could fight back the Miasma: our Guardian Spirits. Across the world, anywhere people’s voices cried out, a Guardian Spirit would appear and create a safe haven - a Vale in the shadows where the Miasma couldn’t spread. They returned the sunlight to us and revitalized our environment. The ruins of the old world were long gone. We looked around at this new world that was once again full of plants, animals, and people and we made a promise to our new Guardians. As they protected us, we would protect this world. We wouldn’t let it fall into darkness and suffering again like our ancestors before us. This was the miracle at the Dawn of the Fifth Age.
And even though the Miasma and the Miasmabeasts still lurk in the shadows, and even though there are those of us who do hold evil and greedy designs in this new world, the people of the Fifth Age are here, and we will build something beautiful for the future of all of us.